To Waltz
by Steeple333
Summary: Sora gives BT a proposal. Not SoraBT R&R, please.
1. Chapter 1: A Request

**Okay! I've finally gotten inspiration to do this! This will be romance, Sora/Mimiru, to be specific. I think it's adorable, and plausible. Ok? Well, that's out of the way, so on with the fic! **

To Waltz

The player known as BT logged onto the Lambda Server. It had taken a while to get here, at the time, but it was well worth with, despite a certain person's interference with her virtual life.

'_Idiot._' She thought bitterly at the memory. But today, she wasn't too bitter. At level 43, she was rather powerful, for a Wavemaster. She had just come back from a typical dungeon crawl, and her fellow party members had to log out for "previous engagements" a few rooms before the Gott Stature. BT sniffed; no doubt the fact that the dungeon was level 46 had something to do with it. They'd rather cut their gains with levels rather then risk it all of a little more treasure. But she persevered, and gave a chuckle when she found the gleaming Statue after three monster-free rooms. Ah well, more for her. Two Ivory Barrettes and a rare Golden Grunty rewarded her for her trouble. Should she keep it or use it..? After a moment of careful contemplation, she decided to place it away in the Elf's Haven, for later.

She had just done so and saved when a _ping_ announced that she received mail. She logged out and checked her email, and immediately groaned to herself. It was from _Sora_, of all people. '_What does that fool want?_' she though irately, '_Well, I just saved, it's not like it'll hurt. Besides, he might have something interesting._' Satisfied, she opened the email.

"BT,

I have a Staff of Truth. Want it? Do me a favor, and I might give it to you. Meet me at Lambda: Mysterious, Stark, Twin Hills.

-Sora"

BT pondered this. A Staff of Truth… that _was_ very tempting. But who knew what asinine request he would ask? More likely then not, he would want either information or a victim. Well, she had nothing to lose. So with a resigned sigh, she logged back into The World.

"Trum-te-tum-ti-dee! Trum-te-tum-di-doo Pa-ra-pa-pa-pum-pi-pu, tee-dee"

A dark Twinblade sang an inane little impromptu tune as he waited at Lambda: Mysterious, Stark, Twin Hills. He knew she would come. The bait was too tempting for poor li'l BT to pass up. No doubt she would save beforehand to avoid losing anything, should he PK her. Well, let her; this invitation had nothing to do with itchy katars, so she was safe, for now. Not that she would know. Ah well. He could wait. He danced along to his own melody, casting a long black shadow amoung the others, cast by the tall silent rocks under a silvery moon.

"Hey, you." A terse voice said to his right.

Sora stopped mid-pose and turned immediately to the glowering Wavemaster, "BT! You came! I'm _so_ happy! And here I was thinking you wouldn't show" he trilled with a gleaming smile.

"We both know that's a lie." She said. Sora was pleased with the tick developing on her eye. "So let's get straight to the point," she continued, "What 'favor' do you want me to do to give me the bait?"

So she had seen through it, pretty well, too. Still, it was pretty predictable. Ah well, he'd play with her a bit before saying anything conclusive.

"Huh? I _was_ going to give you the Staff on faith, but if you insist on doing me a favor first…" he carefully stressed the word "insist".

A lesser woman would have growled, but BT was sorely tempted, "Fine. Whatever. What is it?" BT was _not_ in the mood. Nor was she ever, come to think about it.

"First, a question!" Sora said brightly, pointing up a finger, "This is very important, so listen carefully." He voice descended into a low, important voice. BT unconsciously leaned forward to hear this mysterious question.

"Are you a girl?"

"What!" BT was opening fuming. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Sora pouted, "It's no use yelling at me. That's not very niiiice" he stretched the last word in a singsong tone, "Besides, it's an important question. You can't help me if you're a boy."

BT sighed. She was getting caught up in his personality. "Yes, I'm female, now what do you want?"

"Good, good! That's good!" he almost sang as he knit his hands behind his head, looking off toward the luminous moon. After a brief pause, he asked, still looking at the celestial body "Girls like guys who can dance, right?"

Of the many questions Sora could have asked, this one effectively confused her. "What?" she sputtered, not quite recovered. Was he toying with her again?

But when he faced her, he looked just the same as always; the cattish eyes narrowed as he had his perpetual smirk. "I heard that girls like guys who can dance. Is it true or not?"

Calming down she said, begrudgingly said, "Well, it is a desirable trait, why?" it was her turn to smile as she drew her own conclusions, "What, does Mr. Scary PK have a crush?"

Sora, however, didn't bat a black eyelash. Shrugging, he said, "'Crush' isn't the word." He removed his hands from his hand and took a seat on a rock, "Now, as for the favor…"

"You want me to teach you?" BT said humorlessly.

Sora grinned and clapped his hands in delight, "Right, right! BT is such a smart girl!" BT's eye gave another twitch, "I want you to show me how to waltz, and I'll give you the Staff of Truth as payment when you're done. How about it?"

That was it? Teach this big idiot to waltz? Simple enough. "How am I guaranteed that you'll pay at the end?"

Sora pretended to think, scarlet eyes averted to the clear heavens and a hand stroking his chin. Then he planted his fist in his palm. "I know! How about I give you this-" he send her an item using the "Gift" feature, "-on good faith? Then I'll give you the Staff later."

BT tried hard not to gape. He had flippantly given her a Vessel of Sky, the rarest "Treasure" type item that can only be acquired from Gott Statues. It could be sold for a lot of GP or traded for really good equipment. This was some insurance.

"Ok, good enough." She said dispassionately.

Sora's grin widened, "C'mon BT, you're impressed, admit it"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but your offer…"

"Yeah? I know you're impressed with the candy, so are you going to take the toy?"

"Ok. I'll accept it. I'll teach you-"

"And when I can do it, I'll give you the Staff. Deal?" he cocked his head, and stuck out his hand.

"Deal." BT said, business-like, and shook his hand "I'll email you to meet up somewhere. I'm busy right now."

"Ok" Sora chimed, "Bye-bye, BT!" he waved and logged out, leaving BT alone in the moonlight.

She logged out, put her newly acquired treasure into the Elf's Haven and saved. When she logged out, she removed the FMD (Face Mounted Display) and pinched her nose, "It could've been worse," she murmured to herself.

**Woot, I'm happy with this I wrote it all in one sittings. So! Tell me what you guys think! Suggestions, comments, critiques, anything! Flamers will be ignored. 3**


	2. Chapter 2: Waltzing

Without furthur ado, here's the first chapter nn

**Chapter 1: Waltzing**

Sora was happy. BT actually agreed. Of course, there was no reason she shouldn't, the deal was more then reasonable, but there was always that little risk. Risk of dismissal of the silly request, risk of contempt, risk of spite… a number of small things. Still, Sora was glad nonetheless. He leapt and danced amoung the towering mushrooms that formed a natural circle of a pseudo room in Omega: Towering, Blooming, Hypha.

The email was simplicity itself. BT had said at their previous meeting that she was busy, and Sora decided to take it at face value, rather then assume it was because of undesirable company. In fact, just to make sure, he tailed her, and she indeed logged out. He wasn't surprised when an email came a couple days later:

"Sora,

There is a ring of closely growing mushroom formations northeast of the spawn point at Omega: Towering, Blooming Hypha. Meet me there today at 4:00pm

-BT"

So here he was, gamboling on top of the mushrooms, pausing every now and then to scan the twilit horizon for her familiar shape. It was 3:52, so he was early, but he couldn't help being slightly impatient. He smothered the impulse; nothing would come in being hasty now, even if it was tempting to pester her with an email. He paused in his dancing to sit down and gaze at the simulated sunset, thinking about his reasons for this whole thing. Brown hair that stuck out in sharp spikes, crystal blue eyes that were usually narrowed in a glare. He allowed a private chuckle; she was so adorable when she was mad.

"'Smoke and fools…'" a slightly amused voice called up to him. 1

Without looking away from the scenery, Sora raised a hand in greeting, "Hi, BT. You're early" Sora stood up.

"Five minutes is hardly early." The blonde Wavemaster said, crossing her arms.

"Early enough." Sora leaned his head far, far back, looking up into the apex of the sky. Without warning, he leaned back and plummeted toward the earth, headfirst.

"What-? Oh my God! You idiot!" BT shouted, scrambling out of the way.

"Hyoin" Sora intoned as he neatly flipped in the air and landed on his feet in front of BT. "Did I surprise you? I did, didn't I? Right? Right?" 2

"Just shut up." BT huffed.

"I love you too, BT." Sora rolled his eyes and smiled, "Anyway, let's go in."

"What? The dungeon?" she asked.

"No, silly. There." He stuck a thumb behind him to the circle of fungus.

"Impossible. No one, excuse me, no one _normal_ could get in there. I can't climb up with the caps hanging over like that."

Sora smiled brightly, "Well that's no problem at all! Alley-oop!" with a swift motion, Sora scooped the Wavemaster up and leapt to the top of the mushrooms, then dropped down safely inside the secluded spot.

"You-! I can't believe you! You don't manhandle someone!" BT shouted angrily at him as he set her down, upset that he picked her up.

"Oh c'mon, lighten up" Sora said, smirk still affixed to his features, "It was the only way. Now, are you going to keep your promise, or will I keep this after all?" He took out a Staff of Truth and twirled it around expertly in his hands.

"Ok, ok." BT sighed. It was happening again! She needed to keep her composure. "Look. You put your right hand on my hip and hold my right hand with your left. Got it?"

As Sora followed her instructions, BT was silently surprised that he was cooperating wonderfully. No jokes, no snide remarks, even the smirk disappeared. He actually wanted to learn. Talk about surprises in unexpected places.

"Now, you have to step like you're making a box. Since you're leading it's like this…" she released the hold a moment to show him the steps, "One, two, three. Just like that."

"One, two, three. Simple." Sora said.

"Maybe now it is," BT quipped with a small smile, "But that's correct. A major thing to keep in mind is that what separates a waltz from all other dances is that the music is always in 3/4 time. That is, there are three beats, and you dance with them."

"Thus the 'one, two, three' stuff."

"Correct." BT stated, "So you have to move to that beat. The beat dictates the dance." Sora merely nodded, looking at his feet. BT continued, "However, though there are three beats, you don't count them out like you would with normal numbers. It's 'One. Two. Threee, One. Two. Threee, One. Two. Threee' – and so on." BT clapped her hands to the beat. 3

"So the third note carries over to the next sequence." Sora concluded.

"Correct. I hope you're taking notes, this will be on the test."

"What? A test? But – oh." Sora gave something between a grin and a grimace when he saw BT's amused smile, "Darn it, BT." He smiled, "Keep going."

BT, after enjoying her joke, settled back into her "instructor" role. "Right. I have a file of a waltz." Sora received a message that he had a new email. He opened it, and clicked on the music file. Strains of a light song played through the earphones on his FMD.

BT let him listen to it for a moment, then interrupted, "As you can hear, the song follows the three-beat form I was talking about." Sora nodded, eyes averted to a song she could not hear, and his foot tapped to its beat. "Now try the box step again."

It went on for about an hour. Sora managed to learn the steps well. BT stopped the lesson when she said she had to start dinner. "I'll know if you don't practice, so get it down." She said as golden rings encircled her.

"Yeah, yeah." He said. Regardless, he opened the music file again. Since this was the first lesson, BT taught the steps without music, but Sora wanted to learn quickly. After letting the music play for a few measures to get the beat, Sora moved his feet in the box step. "One. Two. Threee, One. Two. Threee," he muttered to himself, trying to keep time. He missteped a number of times, but he kept going to the rest of the song, then pressed "Repeat"; he would get this down.

After he danced through three more renditions, he stopped. It was 5:30, so he'd better start on his homework; math didn't do itself, after all.

Sora saved (more from habit then necessity) and logged out, then removed the FMD from his head. Running a hand through his dark hair, he glanced at the mirror on the door to his room. A young boy stared back with red eyes, a strong chin, and dark green hair. The reflection smiled along with the original. How would BT react if she knew his real age? He was in his last year at elementary school, and 11 years old now. 4 He got up from the desk and dragged his backpack to a space on dominated by the computer, and took out his math homework. Math wasn't too difficult, all you had to do was follow the rules.

An hour later, Sora finished all of his homework. Finally placing down the pencil, he heard his mother call from downstairs, "Hiroshi! Dinner's ready!" 5 "Coming!" he shouted, and pounded down the stairs into the dining room. "**Hi mama**" he said when he took his seat. 6

"**Hello, my little boy.**" She responded, setting dishes of food on the table, "**Get up and set the table, will you? We're having hamburgers, your favorite.**"

Sora brightened. "**Really? Great!**" he got up and set dishes onto the table. Since he was only setting places for two, this wasn't hard. He also got the teapot and served himself and his mother tea.

"**Thank you, darling.**" His mother said smiling warmly, "**It makes me so happy that my little boy is so helpful.**"

"**No problem, mama.**" Sora said. After they both said, "Itadakimasu!" 7, they both started eating.

Sora snatched a look toward his mother, then glanced at the other side of the square table; his father used to sit there. It had been four years since the accident, but Sora still felt the emptiness of the missing chair and man, even now.

His father was a man full of life. He was energetic and never too tired to play with Sora. Of course, marriage to a nice Japanese girl quieted him down a bit, but the spark in his eye never went away. Until… a screech, screams, a blinding light, a shove, and a dull thud; and laying there, with a growing pool of red… Sora shook his head; it was no good blaming himself, what's done is done, and Daddy wouldn't have wanted him to be sad.

His mother noticed him staring at the side of the table. "**I miss him too, dear. He was a good man.**" Sora merely nodded. His mother smiled, "**How about I tell you that story?**"

"**Again? I must've heard it a million times now**." He groaned.

"**Then let's make it a million and one.**" She paused a moment, collecting her thoughts, "**It started when I was a young women, fresh-faced and hopeful.**" She began, "**I went to a college in America, because I wanted to learn more English. I was an English major, but my English was broken, so I had a hard time. I had enough to get along, but I often didn't understand all of what the professors were saying, and I sometimes got lost on campus. Then I met your father**." Her eyes got a misty, faraway look, "**He was a Business major, but he was very good at explaining things and helped me around campus and with my English. He became my dearest friend.**" She paused, looking at memories.

"**Go on.**" Sora prompted.

"**Oh yes, right. I learned much from him, and I was touched by his kind soul. A year after college, and we got married.**" She smiled as her face pinkened at the memory, as it always did. "**Of course, some of my relations didn't like my marrying a foreigner, but I love him anyway. I met his parents during winter break in his home in Wales. Of course, I was surprised to find out he was Welsh, since he had an American accent.**" She laughed, "**When I found out, I was so surprised, he laughed at the look on my face. Anyway, we got married in the summer, and nearly a year later, we had you, our darling boy.**"

Sora smiled. He had heard the story many times, but it made his mother happy, so he endured it . "**And that's why you speak English to me.**" He said.

"**That's right!**"

The rest of the meal was spent in talking about everyday things, how work and school was. When they were done, Sora helped his mother clear the table. She asked him, "**Are you done with your homework, sweetheart?**"

"**I'm done with math, so only a little left.**" Sora responded, "**I want to go to middle school, though, so I can take English.**"

His mother laughed, "**I bet you'll get the highest grades. Just help your classmates, ok?**"

"**Alright.**"

Sora walked into his classroom the next morning and sat down in his seat by the window. 8 Almost immediately his friend Matsuo approached him. "Hi, Hiroshi." he said.

Sora looked back from the window and smiled, "What's up, **Wiseman?**" 9

"Hey, not in school, ok?"

Sora shrugged, "Sorry. Anything new?"

"Yeah!" Matsuo nodded excitedly, "Game Stop just got in a new shipment of Digimon cards! Wanna see?"

"No thanks," Sora waved his hand, "Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm not into cards games."

"You into Long Arms, then?" another student said suddenly behind him.

"No." Sora recited. A "darn it!" was heard in the background as Sora sighed. Sora had refused to tell them his PC on The World for good reason. As such, they always asked him questions, trying to trick him into telling. So far, they still didn't know anything, only that he goes to the Lambda Server. Since all players can access Root Towns, it wasn't a definite hint. 10

Matsuo looked over at the other students. "Never give up, do they?"

"Nope." Sora said, "They still don't know your PC either, right?"

Matsuo grinned, "I set up a dummy account so I could play with them. You should do that, too. It'll get them to stop asking."

Sora shrugged, "Maybe. I don't really feel like playing with them, anyway. It's fun with a little anonymity, right?" he smiled and narrowed his eyes like his PC.

It was Matsuo's turn to grin, "Yeah, an older friend of mine, Kitayama, he goes to Game Stop. He asked me for information last week."

Sora piqued up in interest. "Really?" he asked, "What'd he want?"

"The usual," Matsuo answered, "He got a virus core – S by the way, rather rare."

"So? What'd you do?"

"I offered him a Noble Wine for it, and he was more then willing."

"Didn't he want information?"

Matsuo looked thoughtful, "Well, of course he wanted to know what its use was. Said he found it in a dungeon."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well, I didn't say anything, so he offered me an Angel Chain, so I told him that it was an item without any use."

"Nice way of evading the truth there." Hiroshi grinned.

Matsuo gave back a small smile, "I didn't evade the truth; the price he gave me could only pay for the information I gave. He was satisfied, so he didn't mind the ambiguity."

"'A fair price', right?"

Matsuo smiled more, "Yep, personal policy. A price equal to the service rendered. No more and no less. It's a delicate balance that makes the difference between a good merchant and a bad one."

"Or an informer."

Matsuo waved his hand, "Essentially, a informer is a type of merchant, one that sells information. I mostly deal with trinkets, oddities and, primarily, information in The World."

"Yeah, yeah." Hiroshi said as their homeroom teacher came in.

"You're late, Bear!" a chipper Heavyblade said as a blue Blademaster walked up to her on a grassy plateau in Dun Loireag.

"Sorry, sorry." Bear said, "This old man was working on something in real life. As a student, I'm sure you know how bad deadlines can be." 11

Mimiru frowned slightly as she stood up from the rock she was sitting on. "I'm sorry" she said, "If you really need to work on it, you didn't have to come."

Bear chuckled, "No, it's quite all right. It's important to have a break one in a while. So," he said, getting a little more serious, "is BT here yet?"

Mimiru shook her head, "No. Are you sure it's ok if I'm here?"

Bear waved her off, "I'll be the one responsible if not. Don't worry, she said in her Flash mail that it was something 'interesting', so I think it's safe to include you."

The Heavyblade was still a little unsure. "Well, if you say so."

"Hey, Bear, you didn't tell me the kid would be here."

"Ah, BT." Bear said, turning around as the green Wavemaster walked up to them.

"Should I leave?" Mimiru said.

BT waved it off, "No, it's ok. I just got a very odd request."

"Really?" Bear asked, "From who?"

"Sora."

"Geh." Mimiru made a face, "Him? What'd he want?"

BT smiled at her reaction, and said, "He wanted me to teach him to waltz."

"What? Why would he do that?" Mimiru asked incredulously, while Bear silently pondered, arms crossed

BT shrugged, "I don't know why, I think he wants to impress a girl."

Bear looked up. "Did you accept?"

"Yeah. He offered me a Staff of Truth, and he gave me a Vessel of Sky on good faith. So I think it's a small price to pay, correct?"

"Wow, that's a really good deal." Mimiru said, "I guess it'd be nice to be able to give away expensive stuff."

"Because the item was expensive," Bear started.

"Yeah?" Mimiru prompted.

"Well," Bear uncrossed his arms, "Because he gave BT and expensive item, and offered a more expensive item as payment, then it must mean that this is important to Sora, correct?" 12

"I guess." Mimiru said.

"So what's your point?" BT asked, crossing her arms with her wand in the crook of her elbow.

"I don't know." Bear sighed, "I suppose I'm just rationalizing. It just seems like a strange thing for Sora to do."

BT smiled wryly, "He's still the annoying idiot he always was."

"Maybe." Bear said.

"Maybe what? He's a creep!" Mimiru grumbled.

"Nothing. I gotta go."

"But you just got here!"

"Eh, she's calling for me." He paused, then laughed, "She's saying not to put off that article. Well, see you later." Bear logged out in a swirl or golden rings.

"So." Mimiru said after a brief pause, "Know any good dungeons?"

"For you, yes."

1 The phrase BT once used toward Sora was "Only smoke and fools like high places", obviously referring to his habit of standing on structures. I'm reiterating it here. 3

2 He's saying "da ne? Ne?" in Japanese. I'd write it in, but it's awkward for me to write in two languages.

3 This is true. Listen to a waltz and see for yourself. I was in band for three intense years, and this beat was pounded into us when we first played a waltz. I like waltzes. . They're so fun, and the beat makes me want to dance.

4 Ok, I need to explain the Japanese school system, so time for a round of "How Japanese Schools work". Elementary schools have 5 years, with the last having 11 year olds. Middle school has 4 years, spanning ages 12-15. High school lasts three years, with 16-17 year olds. That's why Kite was in "8th grade", but was 14. Got it? Good.

5 Ok, funny/weird story behind my reasons for naming him Hiroshi. I was trying to think of good "fitting" names for the /SIGN characters, and I decided on Hiroshi for Sora, since I thought it "fit" his picture. Shortly afterward, I was looking at the voice actors for /SIGN, and imagine my surprise when I saw that Sora was voice by "Hiroshi"! I laughed at that. Incidentally, the exact same thing happened with my name for Mimiru. It was strange. o.o

6 As with my other .hack fics, bold is English, normal is Japanese.

7 I can't remember the specific translation, but all you guys need to know is that "Itadakimasu" is always said before a meal.

8 Ok, more "How Japanese Schools work". Basically, all the students are sorted into homerooms, and the teachers go to the classes, instead of students going to their teachers' classes. So the students are all in the same class (and seats) for the whole day, with the obvious exception of PE.

9 I also made this up. Not sure if Wiseman is voiced by someone name Matsuo, though. It's such a masculine-sounding name, huh? Like Kintaro or something. XD Also, for those of you who don't know, Wiseman is an elementary school student. XDDD That amuses me to no end. Thusly, I thought it'd be cool if Wiseman was Sora's "friend of a friend" – his connection to Helba. Nifty, eh? 3

10 It's true. In /SIGN, Tsukasa-kun is level 5, and you see him in Carmina Gatelica with Bear in one episode. As for the games, it said in CC sha's email that the servers "were back up".

11 He's saying "ojisan" which can man uncle or a middle aged man. Bear often calls himself this, which I think is cool and funny. Bear Ojisan! XD I love it. As a reminder, he's 47 in /SIGN 3 And 48 here.

12 I imagine him with his hand up in "Bear Explaining Mode", but it's hard to write that in. ;

Hehehe, Mimiru is so cute. n-n So is Sora, for that matter. I hope I captured everyone's personalities. Bear was fun to write for. Now, keep in mind that, aside from a few episodes, I have seen /SIGN in Japanese with subtitles, so I get the dialogue from there, along with the general speech patterns I heard in the Japanese. I hope they are accurate; I think they are.

God, I hate formating. D; Stupid... grumble>

Anyway, please review n.n


	3. Chapter 3: Altercation

Chapter 2: Altercation

"Great performance today, Megumi-san!" The captain of the tennis club, Shizoka, said after school one warm afternoon.

Megumi, a second year student, looked up from putting away her racket into her bag. "Thanks Shizoka-chan." She said, "I think all that extra practice paid off. Now if you'll excuse me," Megumi hefted up her bag, "I'm gonna go home and play The World!"

Shizoka smiled, "Don't leave your homework off, Makuda-sensei already granted you an extension for that paper. Call me if you have trouble." 1

"Geh, I will. Thanks for the help again, I'd be in studying hell without you! Bye!"

"Bye."

1010101

Megumi, after announcing she was home, banged through the door of her room, shoved her bang onto the floor and landed on the chair next to her desk, which held a computer and a headset. She smiled; she had been looking forward to this. Quickly, she put on the NeuroGoggles on her head and clicked on The World icon.

Name: Mimiru

Password: -------

Crystal blue eyes opened upon a mass of cloudy hills; Dun Lorieag. Mimiru stretched and sighed contentedly. It really was nice to play on The World, just for the atmosphere. But before she took more then a couple steps, a chime sounded, telling her that she had new mail. She opened the window and opened the first one:

"Mimiru,

Hey, don't have too much fun! Do your schoolwork, too :)

-Kocha"

Mimiru smiled; Shizoka-chan really looked after her. Promising herself she wouldn't delay working on it, she opened the only remaining unread mail:

"Mimiru,

Hey, come to Theta: Troubling, Dark, Dream.

-Sora"

Mimiru groaned. What could that creep possibly want? More likely then not, he was bored and wanted to bug her. Really, she should just ignore him, but you never knew…

Mimiru shrugged. Right now, she could handle a dungeon. It was really best to ignore Sora. He would probably leave when she didn't come right away; after all, it wasn't like she was special to him. She approached the Chaos Gate and went to a random field.

1010101

Sora lay on his back in the middle on a grassland field. With one arm cushioning his head and the other resting on his stomach, he was very relaxed. It was a warm day today, so it was appropriate to go to a warm field. What better place to meet Mimiru then in a warm sunny field, white clouds drifting by… it had been twenty minutes when he fell asleep on the grass.

Sora dreamed he was in a field not unlike that which he had left in the waking world. He was standing on a hill, and beyond a valley was another hill, with Tsukasa-kun on it. 2 Tsukasa-kun smiled and waved, shouting for him to come over. Sora paused for a moment, then Kite-kun stood next to Tsukasa-kun and joined in inviting Sora over. He shook his head: the valley became a deep ravine, and he wasn't sure he could jump it. Then Mimiru shouted for him to come over, a bright smile on her face, as if chastising him for not being able to make one little jump.

Sora made a running leap over the ravine, not wasting aerodynamics with fancy moves. He miraculously landed on the other side, but he lost his balance and fell down. He found purchase right away on the edge of the cliff, and a hand appeared, reaching for him. Sora grasped it, grunting as he pulled himself up. He looked at the hand and realized it didn't belong to either Tsukasa-kun, Kite-kun, or Mimiru. He looked up and froze; it was Skeith. Slowly, Sora felt himself being pulled up into the air, arms locking into a spread eagle…

1010101

"Hyah!" Mimiru cleaved her oversized sword into a Great Sled Dog. As its hit points reached 0, the monster fell to the ground and turned gray before fading away entirely. With only one EXP point for her trouble, Mimiru waited a moment to see if it would drop any treasure; it didn't. However, yellow block letter covered her screen, "ALL DUNGEON PORTALS CLEARED", and she smiled. Checking the map upon which she had used a Fairy's Orb on earlier, she saw the next room was the Gott statue and headed toward it. 3

"Hmm, not the worst" Mimiru said, grabbing the treasure inside, "I bet I could sell it to someone on this server." Without further ado, she used a Sprite Ocarina and logged out of the field.

Now at the Root Town, she checked the time. There was still about half an hour until she could do homework. Although… she did blow off Sora, and she got the email twenty minutes ago. Surely he would've left. All he did was tease her. Always. Still…

"Damn it." She muttered to herself, saving then doubling back to the Chaos Gate to go to Troubling, Dark, Dream.

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Mimiru looked around as she gated into a grassland field, sun shining. The field fit the weather in real life perfectly, so it was slightly unnerving to feel the perceived temperature. It was almost like being in the game. Maybe that's why Sora chose it..? shaking her head, the tan Heavyblade found a dark figure on the edge of the map and ran to it.

It was indeed Sora, but something wasn't right; he was lying on the ground, twitching and whimpering, eyes closed but a frightened expression on his face. Mimiru dropped to her knees and shook him.

"Sora, you lazy bum, did you fall asleep? Stop dreaming and wake up." She shook his shoulder roughly, but he was still asleep, but he muttered something loud enough to be picked up by the microphone:

"Stop… don't… hurts."

"C'mon, wake up! I don't have all day!" Mimiru stood up and kicked him, her hope that it was an act evaporating; it wasn't like Sora to expose weakness.

With out warning, he sat up straight, awake, with a "-miru!".

"Huh? See what?" 4 Mimiru asked, "You ok now?"

Sora panted a little, eyes roving over everything and stopping to rest on Mimiru. Standing up, he said, "Yeah, sorry. It was warm today, and I fell asleep on my desk. But hey" he dropped any remnant of his former emotion and pouted, "Mimiru, I hope you're not so rude to others, you made me wait almost half an hour! That's not too niiice." He pretended to whine.

"Oh shut up, I have better things to do then answer every invite I get." Mimiru frowned, crossing her arms.

"But you came, you came!" Sora chimed, "I must be a pretty special guy if you chose to come with me over all your other invites, Miss Popular."

"What-! No! I just came because… er, because I had nothing else to do! I was bored. Besides, I hate you."

"Didn't you just say you had other things?" Sora accused with a smirk, "Is little Mimiru a liar in addition to being rude?"

"Shut up!" Mimiru shouted at him, "I don't like you, you're a jerk." Sora started laughing, "And what's so funny?" she spat.

"You're so cute when you're angry" Sora said, laughing, "like an irritated kitty."

This deflated her a bit, though she was still angry, "Be quiet, I could blackmail you."

"With what? I doubt you have anything on me? Nyah" he stuck out his tongue.

Mimiru narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in an accurate portrayal of a contempt Tsukasa, "Oh? You were talking in your sleep: 'Stop, don't, it hurts'. I wonder what could make the great PK Sora so scared, huh?"

Sora dropped his composure a moment. Had he really talked in his sleep? How much did he say? How much did she hear? But he shook his head and pouted, "You're mean, Mimiru, taking advantage of me."

"Oh c'mon, like you haven't done so yourself! You always manipulate people! I mean, you used me, BT, and probably a lot of others! All you care about is yourself! I bet you could really care less about everyone else!"

"That's not true." Sora said, frowning slightly. Mimiru fell quiet; the quiet, insistent tone of his voice was very different from the silly reaction she was prepared for. "Don't say I don't care." He said, taking a step forward and looking her directly in the eyes, "It's true I manipulated people for my own enjoyment. It's true I hurt people for my own selfish reasons sometimes, but… but I do want…" He cut himself off, and turned his back to her, "Forget it. I've always known that you… hate me." He softly paused and inflected the word hate.

Mimiru softened, "No, I'm sorry, I don't hate you."

"No, you said yourself: 'Besides, I hate you.'"

Mimiru scrolled up on her dialogue box; she did say that. "Look," she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No." Sora shook his turned head, bandana ends whipping around wildly, "No, you shouldn't lie for my s-sake." A tremor stole over his voice, though suppressed.

"I didn't mean it!" Mimiru insisted. She sighed, "I don't hate you."

Sora paused, again then asked softly, "You really mean that?"

Mimiru smiled. "Yeah," she said, "You're annoying as hell, but I don't hate you."

Sora instantly spun on his toes and faced her, a goofy smile on his face, "See? You did come to see me! You don't hate me at all, huh? You just can't resist me, admit it"

Mimiru was shocked, then flushed, "What the hell?" she shouted, "You jerk! You can't lead someone on like that!"

"Hahaha, what'cha gonna do now? Whack me with your sword?"

"Yeah!" Mimiru grabbed her oversized sword with her hands and swung it down. An entirely fruitless effort, as he easily blocked it with his katars. Sora tossed his head, "Like I said, you're cute when you're angry."

With something akin to a growl, Mimiru blocked the parry and swung her sword back into position. "If you're only going to tease me, I'm gonna leave."

"No, no, there is a reason besides seeing your lovely face." Sora said, grabbing her arm. Seeing Mimiru's glare, he let go and put up his hands, smiling, "Ok, sorry. But anyway" he put his hands down, "You know the event coming up?"

"What?" Mimiru paused, "Oh, you mean the Valentine's day event. What about it." She snapped, eyes narrowed.

Sora merely laughed, however, "So suspicious! It's nothing really, I just need to get in the doors. And to get in, you need…"

"…A partner." Mimiru groaned, "And you want me to come with you."

He clapped his hands and bounced a bit, "Yes, yes! Such a clever girl! I heard there was going to be a good one-of-a-kind item, and it sounds interesting."

"Can't you get anyone else? I don't want to go with _you_." She snarled slightly.

"Well, I don't know any other girls, and I really don't think BT would want to go, right?" she smiled sweetly.

"Well, I can't help you," she said stiffly, "sorry." She added, not sounding so.

"Oh, c'mon, I'll give you compensation." Sora pouted, "If you put up with my company for one evening, I will give you…" he put a finger to his lips, an exaggerated movement, "How about a The Sun Fang?"

"A-a The Sun Fang?" Mimiru sputtered incredulously, "How did you get your hands on that?

Sora shrugged, "Can't remember; I think I got it from a Gott Statue somewhere on the Omega Server. Raging Mirror something-something." He shrugged offhandedly, "I can't remember. Y'want it? It's level 90, not too shabby."

Mimiru shuffled a bit. Would it really be that horrible to go to an event with Sora? '_Yes_', a part of her said, '_He always teases me, and he's so annoying!_' Still, The Sun Fang was very tempting, and there would be the event item as well. She could swallow her pride at least once. "Ok." She finally said, "I'll go, but you have to give me The Sun Fang, ok? And don't PK me afterward to get it!"

"Yay!" Sora leap up (quite high) into the air, and when he was earthbound once more, he clasped her hands and said, "Yes, of course! I just really want this" he said, logging out, leaving Mimiru alone.

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1 "Sensei" teacher. Because I can, dammit.

2 Sora calls Tsukasa "Tsukasa-kun"; since this is in his PoV, I will use that.

3 The Gott Statue rooms are very distinctive in size, shape, and chest position.

4 "Miru" means, "to see" or "to look" in Japanese, thus Mimiru's comment. And for those that are curious, Mimiru's screenname has nothing to do with that. Hers is in katakana, and is named after the Gardenia-like Long Arm from "Intermezzo", Mimika.

Wheee, the plot gets moving! nn Its kind of a short chapter, though, sorry. I think that Sora being DD'd would leave him with a really bad memory. Not much to say except review! And leave your email or something! I want to respond to each and every one of you!


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